Worst. To first.

While you can deduct style points for the manner in which the Winnipeg Blue Bombers clinched the CFL East Division title on Saturday night -- backing in, thanks to a Montreal Alouettes loss to the B.C. Lions in the final regular-season game of the year -- there can be no denying the monumental nature of the turnaround in the Winnipeg franchise in the span of just one year.

With a regular-season record of 10-8, the Bombers improved by six victories over the 4-14 debacle that was 2010 and went from finishing fourth and out of the playoffs -- two years in a row -- to finishing first, hosting the East final and moving to within just one more win of the Grey Cup.

You want pretty? Go see an Anne Hathaway movie. This one was gritty, not pretty -- but history will now record just the same that the 2011 Winnipeg Blue Bombers made sure that the last game ever played at Winnipeg Stadium is the East final by winning this franchise its 20th division title.

How it all plays out from here is anyone's guess. Is it a good thing the Bombers have lost seven of their last 10 games? Of course not. But then the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats -- who will play in the East semifinal this Sunday to determine who faces Winnipeg in the final -- haven't exactly bathed themselves in glory lately either.

Both Montreal and Hamilton head into the playoffs on losing streaks -- a two-gamer for Hamilton and a three-gamer for Montreal -- and both are coming off their worst performances of the year. Hamilton lost 33-16 to the Toronto Argonauts last Thursday in what was the ugliest game of the week until Montreal was destroyed 43-1 by the Lions on Saturday night.

Against that backdrop, the Bombers -- riding a two-game losing streak of their own -- suddenly don't look so bad. And that's particularly true now that they're hosting the East final.

The home team is 14-8 in CFL division finals since 2000 and there is perhaps an extra advantage on top of all that when the game in question is being held in Winnipeg, and on Nov. 20 no less. "We'll see what happens," Bombers defensive back Jovon Johnson offered Saturday night, "but whoever we play has to come to Winnipeg. And it will be real cold -- nice and cold for them..."

Now, it's not like the Bombers players are impervious to the Winnipeg cold, as was clearly in evidence against Toronto in late October when almost the entire Bombers defence huddled around a heater on the sideline between defensive series.

But it is true that Johnson and the rest of the Bombers secondary appear to be getting hottest, just as the weather is getting its coldest. Consider: the Bombers recorded 12 interceptions in their last seven games, compared to nine interceptions in the 10 games before that.

The downside is the Bombers have also been turning over the ball themselves a lot more than they were earlier in the season. And reclaiming dominance in the turnover battle -- the single most reliable predictor of Bombers victory this season -- is no doubt at least in part what head coach Paul LaPolice was referring to when he tweeted this on Sunday afternoon:

"We deserved our 4 wins last yr and the men deserve 1st this year. They earned it. But we need to play better to get to the cup and we will."

Indeed: When the Bombers win the turnover battle this season, they are 10-0. When they don't, they are 0-8. Case closed.

There are other areas the club needs to improve too:

-- CFL co-sack leader Odell Willis hasn't recorded a sack in four games and the brain trust needs to figure out a way to free up Willis on pass rushes again, regardless of whatever he's doing or not doing against the run;

-- The Bombers have been losing close games all of a sudden, with four of their last five losses coming by six points or less;

-- And Winnipeg has had disastrous starts the last two games, spotting Toronto a 24-3 lead and Calgary a 24-0 lead.

So yeah, there's work still to be done -- lots of work to be done -- if this team is going to win Winnipeg its first CFL title in 21 years.

But with the regular season now behind them and a division title under their belt, credit is also now due this 2011 Bombers team: They have come a long, long way, baby. And in a very short time.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

CFL Playoffs

(all games on TSN)

Sunday, Nov. 13

Hamilton @ Montreal, noon

Calgary @ Edmonton, 3:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 20

East Final @ Winnipeg, noon

West Final @ B.C., 3:30 p.m.

Grey Cup

Nov. 27, 5:30 p.m. @ Vancouver

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 7, 2011 C1